Patience, please!

Thanks to all who have visited my blog so far...I am learning as I go and I hope to share some cool stuff with you...

I made a design wall for my quilts recently out of pvc and flannel.  I love it because it's big enough for large quilts and also portable.  Here's a picture of it in my sunroom aka my studio...

Come back soon and I'll have directions for making your own...I firmly believe that a picture is worth a thousand words so I'll be making a mini-design wall so I can take pix as I go for you.  In the meantime my husband and I are going to the beach this weekend with some friends, but I'll try to have this posted by the end of this week.  I also took pictures along the way of this stack and whack quilt in process so I can share those with you as well.  

Blessings to y'all!

Fabric Trays

Fabric Trays

This is my first-ever attempt at a blog, so please bear with me!

Several people on an online quilting forum I have joined have been making fabric boxes.  They are so dang cute!  Here's the link to them:  http://seaside-stitches.blogspot.com/2013/03/fabric-box-tutorial.html  They looked easy so yesterday I attempted to make one after a cursory glance at the directions...(Just call me Miss Smarty Pants!)  I left out one of the most important steps, and from that it went downhill...Instead of making her cute box, mine came out like this:  

It wasn't what I was aiming for, but I liked the results!  I posted a picture on the quilting forum and they wanted instructions for my Fabric Tray. Of course I was happy with the accolades and I decided to post a tutorial.  Then I thought someone else might want to see it and I created a blog several months ago with no posts so here goes...

What you’ll need:

2 squares of 10” x 10” fabric

1 square of  11” x 11” (or thereabouts) batting

Clear tape (I use Scotch brand)

Sewing machine

Basic sewing supplies

Walking foot (recommended)

Free motion foot (optional)

Step 1.  Place the two squares of fabric, right sides together, centered on the batting.  Sew around the edges  ¼” (or thereabouts).  Leave an opening for turning. 

Step 2.   Trim batting close to stitching line.

Step 3.  Turn right side out so batting is in the middle.  Pin opening closed.  Forgot to take picture of this step.

Step 4.  Edge-stitch around all edges.  Oops.  Forgot to take picture of this one, too, but you can see the edge-stitching in the next picture.

Step 5.  Quilt as desired.  I just did a quick meandering on this one.

Step 6.  Stick pins in sides of sandwich 2” from each corner.

Step 7.  Decide which piece of fabric you want for the inside of your tray.  Tear off a piece of tape about 5” and place it on that side so that it forms a base of a triangle with the corner.   Tape needs to extend past sides of fabric sandwich. Remove pins.

Step 8.  Fold fabric so ends of tape meet. 

Step 9.  Stitch next to tape.  Be sure to backstitch at the beginning and end.

Step 10.  Remove tape and repeat steps 7-9 for the other 3 corners.  It will look like this...

Step 11.  Turn tray right side out.  

I really like this look...it would be a nice size for cocktail napkins.  I think I'm going to make 3 different sizes and nest them.

Notes:  You can adjust the size of your tray with the size of your fabric or and/or the size of the triangle you make at the corners.  You could even make one that’s in the shape of a rectangle.

The tape trick came from a Nancy Zieman book; I can’t remember which one.  It’s her way of doing the bottom two corners on patch pockets.  You could just draw a line on your fabric, pin it, and sew, but I like the tape method…it secures where you need to sew without pins.

Enjoy!